Real-life 'Notebook' couple pass away hours apart while holding hands after being married for 56 years
A couple from Michigan who were married for almost six decades passed away on the same day within hours of each other while peacefully holding hands on March 6.
Will and Judy Webb were both 77-years-old when they were fighting sickness. In an interview with Fox 2, their daughter revealed that the couple spent two months away from each other in separate hospitals till they passed away on March 6.
This story has led to the couple being compared to Allie and Noah's love in the 2004 movie 'The Notebook'. "At 14, they met and were friends, they dated other people, they were engaged to other people," said Marybeth Webb, their daughter. "And then they were both single when he went to Army. So she was like, ‘I didn't have anyone to write, so I started writing your dad.'"
They continued to write to each other throughout Will's time when he was serving in Korea and their friendship eventually grew into love and, on February 16, 1963, the couple finally said 'I do'.
After getting married, Will and Judy moved to Melvindale, Michigan where they raised their three daughters. "They always had their arms on each other. If she was away five minutes, he would say 'Where's mama, have you seen mama?" Lori Thomas one of their daughters told Fox 2.
"If you have someone you truly love, you should fight for it," Ann Warren, another daughter of Will and Judy added. "They fought for their love every day." The fight for their love grew more few months ago after Judy suffered from some complications after routine surgery. "She ended up coding from it," Lori Thomas said. "My father watched it and broke."
The day after his wife's ailment, the daughters found out that Will had collapsed. He was then taken to a different hospital but the couple had similar symptoms. "She would get a fever from her infection; he would get a fever ,and they couldn't figure out where his was coming from because there was no source," Marybeth Webb, told FOX 2. "She ended up with encephalopathy as a complication from the antibiotic she was on; he ended up with encephalopathy."
The couple finally reunited in hospice. Ann Warren revealed that the last word her father said was, "Mama!" after Judy was brought into his room. The daughters pushed their beds close together so that, in their final moments together, the couple could hold hands. Will was the first to pass away, followed by Judy who passed away a few hours later.
"We are suffering the loss of our parents at the same time and that's horrid," Marybeth Webb said, adding, "they will never have to suffer the loss of each other."